40
I AM CONTENT WITH CANADA.
Of countries far and famed have I been told,
And of the joys that foreign travel brings,
Of wonders, beauties one would fain behold
To stir the heart with fresh imaginings.
And I myself in storied Switzerland
Have watched the Alps in their majestic calm,
And been by jasmine-scented breezes fanned
In tropic isles that bear the stately palm.
And many a fabled castle on the Rhine
Has winged my fancy as we drifted by;
Beside the oleander and the vine
I've dreamed beneath the soft Italian sky.
But I have never been more deeply stirred
By any loveliness of land or sea
Than when upon Canadian shores I've heard
The lonely loon or curlew call to me
Across our own unnumbered Northern lakes,
And over leagues of winding water-ways
Upon whose nameless shores the aspen shakes
And yellows in the soft autumnal haze.
